Transcript Hamgate 101 - Saginaw County ARES Home

Presented by Saginaw County ARES
The Midland Hamgate
 The Midland digipeater, in the past, has been a simple,
TNC-based system. While the KPC-3 that ran the
Midland digi had a few nice features, it was not a full
service BBS, and did not offer all that a BBS has to
offer.
 The KPC-3 and radio are still there, but now they are
the front-end to a JNOS HamGate. For users of
“normal” packet, the BBS portion of the HamGate is
the most obvious.
What is a Hamgate
 A HamGate is nothing more than a station that
provides an interface between packet radio and the
Internet. The Internet requires that portions of the
Internet, called subnets, have a system responsible for
routing traffic to and from the subnet. A HamGate
provides this service.
 hamgate.midland is responsible for routing Midland
county and a few adjacent counties. As those other
counties install their own HamGates, responsibility for
routing those counties will fall to those new
HamGates.
What is a JNOS
 JNOS is a program which can function as a HamGate.
 Most of the MichiganHamGates use JNOS.
 JNOS provides not only routing, but also a BBS, and a
number of Internet servers.
 Different HamGates may choose to enable different
servers, but most implement Telnet, Ping and Finger.
 Midland has also chosen to implement mail (POP and
SMTP), FTP and http (web).
What do I need to connect to a
Hamgate
 2 Meter radio set to 145.090 MHz (Midland Hamgate)
 A TNC, or a radio equipped with an internal TNC
 A Terminal program like Hyper Terminal or PUTTY
TNC Commands
 MYcall – Make sure your TNC Mycall setting is set to
your call sign.
 Monitor – In order to monitor packet information, set
the Monitor to On
 Beacon – If set to EVERY, sends a beacon packet at
intervals of a specific period.
B every 30 - beacons every 5 minutes (n = 10 seconds)
Mail Commands
 List - The List command displays the unread messages waiting.
 Read - The Read command displays a message. Typing R only displays
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the current message, but you may display a particular message number.
Verbose - The Verbose command is like Read, but it displays all the
message headers.
Kill - The Kill command deletes a message. You must supply a message
number.
Send - The Send command sends a message. You must follow it with an
address, either a call sign, or an Internet-style email address
(kc8yvf or [email protected]).
Area - The Area command switches areas. A alone lists the areas.
General Commands
 Bye - The Bye command logs off the BBS
 Info - The Info command lists some key information about the BBS.
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This information is largely static.
Mbox - The Mbox command shows who is currently logged on. The ML
command shows who has logged on since the system was booted.
Jheard - The Jheard command shows AX.25 stations that have been
heard, just like the J command on other BBSs.
IHeard - The IHeard command is like the Jheard command except that
it shows IP stations rather than AX.25 stations.
IProute - The IProute command shows the public IP routes.
Finger - Finger is an old Internet protocol for getting information about
users.
CONVerse - The CONVerse command connects to the converse bridge
Aliases
 SEOC - The SEOC command simply telnets to the state EOC in
Lansing.
 PROP - The HamGate has a number of files available for download or
viewing. The PROP command lists the propagation related files. These
files are updated every few hours.
 WX - The WX command displays the text weather forecast for
Midland. This forecast is updated every few hours.
Gateway Commands
 Ports - The Ports command shows the ports available on the BBS.
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Currently there is only one radio connected, but in the future, we hope
to add additional ports.
Connect - The Connect command allows you to make an AX.25
connection to another station within radio range. Because the system
could have more than one port, you must specify the port.
PIng - The PIng command allows you to test the time to reach another
station.
Telnet - The Telnet command allows you to make an IP connection to
another station. Like the PIng command, it uses Internet-style
addressing and the station need not be within radio range.
Escape - Sometimes you need a way to escape from a session. The
escape key is how you do this. The escape key defaults to Ctrl-T.
File Commands
 What - The What command performs a directory listing.
 Download - The Download command simply copies the file to the
screen.
 Upload - The Upload command allows files to be uploaded to the BBS.
Only a few people have permission to upload files.
 Zap - The Zap command allows a file to be deleted. Like the Upload
command, only a few people have permission to delete files.
 nws - The nws files have weather-related information.
Connecting via a Radio and TNC
Connecting
•Start the program. You will see a
screen like this.
•Select Serial as the Connection
Type
•You can save the settings by typing
Midland Hamgate in the Saved
Sessions field and clicking Save
•Next click Serial from the left
menu.
Serial Settings
•Set your Serial connections to the
following:
•Speed – 9600
•Data Bits – 8
•Stop Bits – 1
•Parity – None
•Flow Control – XON/XOFF
•Set your Serial line setting to an
available com port.
•The click Open.
Logon
To connect to the Midland
Hamgate type: c w8kea-4 at the
command prompt
cmd: c(space) w8kea-4
Main window
Once connected your screen will
look like this.
Messages
To read a message type: r (space)
followed by the message number
r 1, r 2
To remove or kill a message type k
(space) followed by the message
number
k 1, k 2
Messages example…
Sending a Message
 Like the old W8KEA-1, you can address a message to a call sign. Normally, the
message would then be held on the BBS until that person comes to pick up the
mail.
 However, sometimes hamgate.midland knows that a particular call hangs out
on some other BBS. In that case, the message may get automatically forwarded
to the other BBS. For example, if you leave mail for KC8BGK, the BBS knows he
doesn’t hang out here, and it will forward the message to BAYBBS.
 You can also use Internet style addressing. If you, for example, address mail to
[email protected] the mail will be sent to Bob’s home JNOS system. The
target host doesn’t have to be reachable by radio, either. Mail to the Section
Manager can be addressed to [email protected]. hamgate.midland
will send the message over the Internet to hamgate.monroe, who will then
connect to bbs.n8kuf on 220 to deliver the message. You only need to know the
address; it is the network’s problem to understand the path.
 In fact, you can even send email to some Internet addresses. However, they
won’t be able to respond. Because of the problem of commercial messages,
nodes on the ampr.org network are very picky about who they accept messages
from. With very few exceptions, ampr.org nodes are not reachable from the
Internet, although they can reach out into the Internet.
Send Message
To create a message, type s (space)
followed by the call sign or email address
of the person you want to contact.
s kc8yvf
s [email protected]
Type in a subject [enter]
Type in your message [enter]
Then type /ex to end the message and
send it.
The message will be queued
Help
Type h
You can get help on a
specific topic by typing
h (space) and the topic
name.
h mboxuser
To Disconnect type
b (bye)
Connecting via a Radio and TNC
Setting up HyperTerminal
Once opening HyperTerminal
type in the name of the
connection.
In this case Midland Hamgate and
click Ok.
Set up the com port
Select an open com port for the
connection to the TNC and click
Ok.
Port Settings
The port settings should be as
follows:
Bits per second: 9600
Data bits: 8
Parity: None
Stop bits: 1
Flow control: Xon/Xoff
Click Ok to continue
HyperTerminal
Once HyperTerminal recognizes
your TNC you should see
something like this.
Connecting using
HyperTerminal
This is the same as with Putty.
Type c (space) w8kea-4 at the
command prompt
cmd: c w8kea-4
Help screen
Help
Bye
Monitoring
Using HyperTerminal you can
monitor the data being sent
through the BBS. This can also be
done using Putty.
By monitoring, you do not tie up a
connection. The Hamgate can
handle only a limited number
connections.
Connecting via the Internet
Connecting via the Internet
•Select Telnet as the Connection
type.
•Type hamgate.midland.ampr.org
in the Host Name box
•You can save the settings by typing
Midland Hamgate in the Saved
Sessions field and clicking Save
•Then click Open.
Login Screen
•You will then see the login
screen.
•Type your Call Sign for the login
•Press Enter for the password (no
password is needed)
Intro Screen
•Next you will see the information
screen
In this example, there is no
messages for your call sign
"You have 0 messages"
Getting Help
•You can get help by typing “h” to
see a list of help topics
•Type “h” followed by the name of
an available item will give you help
on that item.
•e.g.
h mboxuser
Help Continued…
•Typing h mboxuser will show
help information on displaying
users.
•M will display current users
•ML will display all past users…
Getting the Weather
To get the local weather type “wx”
Messages
•To read a message, type r (space)
message number
r 1 or r 2
To Kill a message
•Type k (space) message number
k 1 or k 2
Send a Message
To send a message type “s”
followed by the call sign or Internet
style email address of the person
you are trying to reach.
•In the example “s kc8yvf “to send
a message to kc8yvf.
•In the subject like the subject of
the message
•In the Enter message line enter
the message content.
•When finished, hit Enter and type
/ex
•The message is queued for
delivery.
Exiting
Type “b” or bye to exit the BBS
Links:
Using the Midland BBS
packet.mi-nts.org/235/UsingMidlandBBS.pdf
Tell me about JNOS
http://www.qsl.net/w8kea/TellMeAboutJNOS.pdf
Michigan Digital Radio Group
http://www.mi-drg.org/
Putty
http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/